Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Syrian family resettled in U.S. sees future for their children

MARCIA BIGGS:Mohamed and Amira are from Homs, the birthplace of the Syrian revolution. He was a carpenter and she a high school physics teacher.

All three children were small in 2011, when the revolution began and Bashar al-Assad issued a brutal crackdown on their town.

MOHAMED DARBI (through interpreter): When they would raid the homes, we were afraid for our children, our women. We were afraid they would kidnap one of us. That’s when the fear started.

MARCIA BIGGS: It was 2012, when the family narrowly missed the missiles that flattened their neighborhood, that they finally fled. They waited for weeks near the border to be able to make the dangerous crossing into Jordan, running for their lives.

MOHAMED DARBI (through interpreter): For me, I see no future. I’m 42 years old. I will barely make a living and provide for them a decent life. The future is theirs. When they came back from school yesterday, I asked them, “How was your day?” They said: “We were really happy. We had such a fun day.”